Meta, the company that owns WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Threads will be launching a web version of the latter to revive the social media platform, which is has been experiencing a steady decrease in active users.
Threads was first launched in July, back when X (formerly known as Twitter) was implementing a reading limit over tweets to combat “extreme levels” of data scraping and system manipulation, according to Elon Musk. The decision to do this was met with backlash and criticisim from Internet users, who rapidly went to Threads.
After this, the Meta platform enjoyed an amazing growth when it was officially launched last month. The controversial restrictions in X made it the perfect place for users to feel compensated, and it also had a “novelty” factor that attracted many people. However, thousands of users have quickly left to platform due to its limited functionalities.
To attract users back into Threads, Meta has been trying to put out new features, but the interest of previous users seems to be lacking. As a result, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, affirmed that a Threads version for the web was going to be “rolling out over the next few days.” This measure is expected to put a stop to the decline Threads has been experiencing after its initial launch.
Different experts have questioned the choices Meta has made by launching Threads so early. For example, Associate Director for Media and Technology at Mintel, Rebecca McGrath, affirmed:
“Meta made the choice to launch Threads in a very basic form. his has frustrated users who checked out the platform following its much-hyped launch, and were expecting it to be a ready-to-go alternative to Twitter. Offering a web version is a very important step. However, it still has a way to go.”
On a similar note, , Professor of internet studies at Curtin University in Australia Tama Leaver, criticized Thread’s search fuction, which is a feature users have complained about, along with the hashtags, a characteristic that is already present on Instagram but that Threads refuses to utilize.
“Meta are going to have to work to roll out a vastly improved search functionality to let users find topic-based communities to really draw back the crowd who are looking to replace Twitter. On that front, Meta’s reluctance to implement hashtags, especially as they’re already on Instagram, seems an odd choice when really that’s the single feature that’s most synonymous with X and the function that would most likely convince users to come back and give Threads a second look.”
